Daniel McCoy, a litigation partner at Fenwick & West's employment practices group, was recently quoted in BusinessWeek's cover story. The article discusses the burgeoning growth in "wage and hour" lawsuits; McCoy is tapped to comment on the role technology plays in this trend.

This legal area has become a full-fledged employer/employee battleground. Companies have collectively paid out more than $1 billion annually to resolve these claims, mostly brought on behalf of large groups of employees. And this is not just a one time situation. Often suits are filed several times against the same organization.

The rules of overtime are definitely changing. According to McCoy, 15 years ago he would have presumed that a person who checked her e-mail remotely or who telecommuted had the type of job that would not be eligible for overtime. "That's less and less true today," he says.